Matt Singleton, a Baptist minister, ... spoke to the board about why the standards should not be adopted... "Outsiders are telling public school families that we must follow the rich man's elitist religion of evolution, that we no longer have what the Kentucky Constitution says is the right to worship almighty God"

Yes, that is what you are being told. You no longer have the right to worship almighty God.

The day I listen to a minister tell me what is science and what is not is that day I converse with a minister with a hard science PhD. Until then, I'll consult with the clergy on matters ecumenical while saving my science-speech for degree-holding debaters.

Another opponent, Dena Stewart-Gore, suggested that the standards will make religious students feel ostracized. "The way socialism works is it takes anybody that doesn't fit the mold and discards them," she said, per the The Courier-Journal. "We are even talking genocide and murder here, folks."

Lucky LaRue:Matt Singleton, a Baptist minister, ... spoke to the board about why the standards should not be adopted... "Outsiders are telling public school families that we must follow the rich man's elitist religion of evolution, that we no longer have what the Kentucky Constitution says is the right to worship almighty God"

Yes, that is what you are being told. You no longer have the right to worship almighty God.

But if I learn this, I'll be no better than those statue-worshipping Catholics!

factoryconnection:Lucky LaRue: Matt Singleton, a Baptist minister, ... spoke to the board about why the standards should not be adopted... "Outsiders are telling public school families that we must follow the rich man's elitist religion of evolution, that we no longer have what the Kentucky Constitution says is the right to worship almighty God"

Yes, that is what you are being told. You no longer have the right to worship almighty God.

But if I learn this, I'll be no better than those statue-worshipping Catholics!

Funnily enough, the Catholic Church says there's no conflict between Christianity and evolutionary biology and even teaches it in science class in their schools.

People such as these, when you present them with the real scientific theories that goes against what they've "known" forever, they see it as not just a threat to their own world-view, but a threat to the trust they've placed in those who have been close to them their entire lives. If your parent spent 30 years telling you that God created the heavens and earth, and then some "rich man's elitist scientist" comes along and says "no, it isn't like that at all," you're going to get a visceral reaction from the believers because you're not just telling them that they are wrong, you're saying their loved ones are wrong too. And if their loved ones were wrong about that, what else are they wrong about? It's overwhelming to the believer and most can't sort it out, so they fall back into denial instead.

Aarontology:factoryconnection: Lucky LaRue: Matt Singleton, a Baptist minister, ... spoke to the board about why the standards should not be adopted... "Outsiders are telling public school families that we must follow the rich man's elitist religion of evolution, that we no longer have what the Kentucky Constitution says is the right to worship almighty God"

Yes, that is what you are being told. You no longer have the right to worship almighty God.

But if I learn this, I'll be no better than those statue-worshipping Catholics!

Funnily enough, the Catholic Church says there's no conflict between Christianity and evolutionary biology and even teaches it in science class in their schools.

Most Protestants support teaching evolution in schools as well. Overall about 77% of Christian churches (Protestant, Catholic, assorted other flavors) accept the theory of evolution and schools teaching it.

Nothing in there about the right to worship whatever you please. Nothing in there about socialism. Nothing in there about fascism. Nothing in there about rich men or elitism. Nothing in there about murder and genocide.

I wouldn't mind discussing, or even debating evolution if the opponents of it would actually be willing to do so. They seem dead-set on avoiding the actual topic however, and instead ranting about some other completely unrelated nonsense. If you want to debate the validity of evolution, I'll listen and gladly engage in the discussion with you. Any takers?

SurfaceTension:People such as these, when you present them with the real scientific theories that goes against what they've "known" forever, they see it as not just a threat to their own world-view, but a threat to the trust they've placed in those who have been close to them their entire lives. If your parent spent 30 years telling you that God created the heavens and earth, and then some "rich man's elitist scientist" comes along and says "no, it isn't like that at all," you're going to get a visceral reaction from the believers because you're not just telling them that they are wrong, you're saying their loved ones are wrong too. And if their loved ones were wrong about that, what else are they wrong about? It's overwhelming to the believer and most can't sort it out, so they fall back into denial instead.

In this way, I now appreciate The Waterboy as a sophisticated allegory of the epistemic closure that is epidemic among the modern conservative and Republican ideologies.

SurfaceTension:People such as these, when you present them with the real scientific theories that goes against what they've "known" forever, they see it as not just a threat to their own world-view, but a threat to the trust they've placed in those who have been close to them their entire lives. If your parent spent 30 years telling you that God created the heavens and earth, and then some "rich man's elitist scientist" comes along and says "no, it isn't like that at all," you're going to get a visceral reaction from the believers because you're not just telling them that they are wrong, you're saying their loved ones are wrong too. And if their loved ones were wrong about that, what else are they wrong about? It's overwhelming to the believer and most can't sort it out, so they fall back into denial instead.

I get that, but for hundreds of years human society has only progressed when people questioned the correctness of those that came before them.

FloydA:I wouldn't mind discussing, or even debating evolution if the opponents of it would actually be willing to do so. They seem dead-set on avoiding the actual topic however, and instead ranting about some other completely unrelated nonsense.

That's because the entirety of their knowledge of evolution is essentially a straw man, spoon fed to them by their parents and pastors.

Aarontology:Funnily enough, the Catholic Church says there's no conflict between Christianity and evolutionary biology and even teaches it in science class in their schools.

I'm well aware, given that I'm Catholic. I also know that I don't worship statues, but then I'm not a very good Catholic.

SurfaceTension:People such as these, when you present them with the real scientific theories that goes against what they've "known" forever, they see it as not just a threat to their own world-view, but a threat to the trust they've placed in those who have been close to them their entire lives.

Ultimately this is the root of the problem. It only seems like mythology from the outside; for people raised, immersed in such teachings it is the root of their worldview. That's the biggest problem with religion being used as a front for pseudoscience, especially when leaders of religions take firm stands that actual science is heretical, and then forges their political ideology around it. So you end up with a group of people whose political, religious, and scientific takes on life are all rigid and intertwined, and sure enough they don't accept it when some "other" comes along and tries to explain a problem with their scientific view.

Plus there's a lot of mercury in the water supply throughout Appalachia because of coal-fired power plants.

SurfaceTension:People such as these, when you present them with the real scientific theories that goes against what they've "known" forever, they see it as not just a threat to their own world-view, but a threat to the trust they've placed in those who have been close to them their entire lives. If your parent spent 30 years telling you that God created the heavens and earth, and then some "rich man's elitist scientist" comes along and says "no, it isn't like that at all," you're going to get a visceral reaction from the believers because you're not just telling them that they are wrong, you're saying their loved ones are wrong too. And if their loved ones were wrong about that, what else are they wrong about? It's overwhelming to the believer and most can't sort it out, so they fall back into denial instead.

Tigger:Seeing as the idiots in the article are already claiming that they are going to be the victims of wholesale slaughter, I propose we go ahead and do it anyway.

Hold on there, pal. Kentucky provides the US with a vital resource: bourbon. Sure, sure... it can technically be made anywhere, but as when God said he'd spare Sodom if he could find just 20 good folks, I think that bourbon alone is a raison d'etre for KY.

Trivia Jockey:This is the reason why indoctrinating young children with religion is such a terrible thing.

Teaching your children that knowledge of the world is a fixed quantity and then tying it to religion is a terrible thing. Plenty of people raise their kids religious and they don't end up rejecting science.

It reminds me of Rick Perry...when confronted with the stats that his abstinence-only state ranks at the very bottom of teen pregnancy statistics, he said that the teachers must not be doing a good enough job teaching abstinence.

While supporters feel the standards will help beat back scientific ignorance, some religious groups take issue because the standards treat evolution as fact and talk about the human role in climate change.

Dr Dreidel:The Hebrew is "רְאֵמִים", meaning "young oxen". How does one get "unicorns" out of that? No, I'm serious

Its almost as if the entire Bible was written in ancient languages a very long time ago and has been translated, re-translated, and interpreted many times. So what people think the Bible says may or may not be what was originally written.

kronicfeld:Another opponent, Dena Stewart-Gore, suggested that the standards will make religious students feel ostracized. "The way socialism works is it takes anybody that doesn't fit the mold and discards them," she said, per the The Courier-Journal. "We are even talking genocide and murder here, folks."

Are we very sure this is not just a re-posted Onion article?

As a Kentuckian, I dearly wish it was. Alas, it is not.

For every one step forward we drag this Bible-ridden place, the ignorant and fearful run two steps back screaming, "NO! WE WON"T THINK, AND YOU CAN'T MAKE US!!"